Naples

Naples, called Napoli in Italian, is the capital of the Campania region of Italy. It is the third-largest city in Italy after Rome and Milan, housing 4,000,000 people in one of the largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded around 700 BC by the Greeks, and it was part of the Magna Graecia region of southern Italy until its conquest by the Roman Republic. Naples changed hands between the Greeks, Romans, Ostrogoths, Byzantine Empire, Saracens, Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantines again, the Norman Kingdom of Naples, the Angevin Kingdom of Naples, the Aragonese Empire, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and finally Italy, having a rich history and various cultural influences.

History
More than 2,800 years old, Napoli (or Naples) has a deep and rich history, its roots lying in a Greek settlement founded during the 8th century BCE. Control of the city changed hands numerous times throughout its existence and for a period bounced back and forth between the Goths and Romans. In one famous account, the Byzantine Empire retook the city by entering on its aqueduct and bypassing the heavily guarded gates.

In the Middle Ages, the Normans took control and stayed in power for 300 years while their leaders and nobles feuded over who the rightful ruler was. Following their reign, control of the prosperous merchant city shifted between a host of city states and countries including France and Spain. French rule began in 1501 under Louis XII of France. French control, however, only lasted until 1505, when Ferdinand seized power in the name of Spain. During this time, Naples became one of Europe's biggest cities, second only to Paris, as well as a cultrual powerhouse of the Renaissance boasting artists like Laurana, de Messinia, and Poliziano.

Naples was a kingdom after Spanish rule in the 1700s up to 1860, when it was conquered by Giuseppe Garibaldi's Italian patriot Redshirts, who united the kingdom with Sardinia to form the Kingdom of Italy. Naples has been an integral part of Italy ever since, remaining an important trade city and one of the largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea.